Methods, systems, and computer program products for discreetly monitoring a communications network for sensitive information
A method for monitoring a network for information includes repeatedly searching the network for sensitive information about a subscriber. The network is intermittently searched for obscuring information during the repeated searching to thereby disguise the sensitive information that is the target of the repeated searching. Related systems and computer program products are also discussed.
The present invention relates to communications networks, and, more particularly, to monitoring communications networks for information.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONCommunications networks are widely used for nationwide and worldwide communication of voice, multimedia and/or data. As used herein, communications networks include public communications networks, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), terrestrial and/or satellite cellular networks and/or the Internet.
The Internet is a decentralized network of computers that can communicate with one another via Internet Protocol (IP). The Internet includes the World Wide Web (WWW) service facility, which is a client/server-based facility that includes a large number of servers (computers connected to the Internet) on which Web pages or files reside, as well as clients (Web browsers), which interface users with the Web pages. Specifically, Web browsers and software applications send a request over the WWW to a server, requesting a Web page identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which notes both the server where the Web page resides and the file or files on that server which make up the Web page. The server then sends a copy of the requested file(s) to the Web browser, which in turn displays the Web page to the user.
The topology of the World Wide Web can be described as a network of networks, with providers of network services called Network Service Providers, or NSPs. Servers that provide application-layer services may be referred to as Application Service Providers (ASPs). Sometimes a single service provider provides both functions.
With the advent of the Internet and refinement of database technologies, vast amounts of data may be disseminated and/or accessed using the Web. Search engines often are utilized to facilitate searching for desired information among these large collections of data. Exemplary search engines include the Google™ search engine and the MSN Search feature of the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser.
Considering the public accessibility the Web, individuals, groups, and organizations may be concerned with privacy and the protection of sensitive and/or private information. As such, reasonable protections may be used when transmitting such information over the Web. Yet, in some cases these protections may fail, and sensitive information may be undesirably stolen, lost, or otherwise disseminated so as to be obtainable by unauthorized third parties. By detecting this dissemination of sensitive information, steps may be taken to limit potential damage. However, the act of searching for information, such as sensitive information, may inadvertently disclose the information that is the target of the search. Information may be disclosed directly by the specified search terms themselves, or indirectly by inferences based on one or more of the search items specified.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccording to some embodiments of the present invention, a method for monitoring a network for information may include repeatedly searching the network for sensitive information about a subscriber, and intermittently searching the network for obscuring information during the repeated searching to disguise the sensitive information.
In other embodiments, the method may further include populating a database with sensitive information about a subscriber and randomly-generated obscuring information to produce expanded subscriber information, and repeatedly searching the network for the expanded information from the database. Repeatedly searching for the expanded information may include repeatedly searching for the sensitive information and intermittently searching for the obscuring information.
In other embodiments, the method may include obtaining the sensitive information for the repeated searching from a subscriber, randomly-generating the obscuring information for the intermittent searching, expanding the sensitive information with the obscuring information to generate target information; and repeatedly searching the network for the target information. Repeatedly searching for the target information may include repeatedly searching for the sensitive information and intermittently searching for the obscuring information.
In other embodiments, the method may include identifying search results containing sensitive information from results of the repeated and intermittent searching based on the sensitive information obtained from the subscriber, and reporting the identified search results to the subscriber.
In still other embodiments, repeatedly searching may include searching for additional information about the subscriber if the sensitive information from the subscriber is found.
In still other embodiments, expanding the sensitive information with the obscuring information may include augmenting the sensitive information about the subscriber with information about other subscribers and/or randomly-generated information about non-existent subscribers and/or public information about non-subscribers.
In further embodiments, repeatedly searching for the expanded information includes populating a database with sensitive information about a plurality of subscribers and randomly-generated obscuring information to produce expanded information for each of the plurality of subscribers. Repeatedly searching for the expanded information may further include repeatedly searching for expanded information for a first subscriber and intermittently searching for expanded information for a second subscriber.
In further embodiments, obtaining the sensitive information from the subscriber includes obtaining preference information from the subscriber as to a degree of privacy for the sensitive information.
In other embodiments, repeatedly searching is performed periodically, continuously, and/or at random intervals.
In other embodiments, repeatedly searching includes a delay between related search requests, and wherein intermittently searching is performed during the delay.
In still other embodiments, identifying search results containing sensitive information from results of the repeated and intermittent searching includes excluding search results specified by the subscriber and/or a system administrator, and comparing remaining search results with the sensitive information obtained from the subscriber to identify the search results containing sensitive information.
Other systems, methods, and/or computer program products according to embodiments of the invention will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon review of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, and/or computer program products be included within this description, be within the scope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSOther features of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying figures, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Like reference numbers signify like elements throughout the description of the figures. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
The present invention may be embodied as systems, methods, and/or computer program products. Accordingly, the present invention may be embodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.). Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable or computer-readable storage medium having computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in the medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system. In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a nonexhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM). Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.
The present invention is described herein with reference to flowchart and/or block diagram illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart and/or block diagram illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart and/or block diagram illustrations, may be implemented by computer program instructions and/or hardware operations. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer usable or computer-readable memory that may direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer usable or computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instructions that implement the function specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
For purposes of illustration, embodiments of the present invention are described herein with respect to automatically monitoring a network for private and/or sensitive information. It will be understood that the present invention is not limited to such embodiments but may also be embodied generally as monitoring for any specified information across a communication network.
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The auto-monitoring server 120 may be embodied as one or more enterprise, application, personal, pervasive and/or embedded computing devices that may be interconnected by a wired and/or wireless local and/or wide area network, including the Internet. In some embodiments, the auto-monitoring server 120 may be situated in a secure location, such as the central office of a communications services provider. Although
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Embodiments of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects without departing from the teachings of the present invention. Computer program code for carrying out operations of data processing systems described above with respect to
According to some embodiments of the present invention, systems, methods and/or computer program products may be provided that can automatically and continuously search a network, such as the Internet, as well as other network-accessible databases, for private and/or sensitive information. The searches can be conducted in a manner that may obscure the private and/or sensitive information that is the true target of the searches.
Exemplary operations for monitoring a network for private and/or sensitive information in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the flowcharts of
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The network is then repeatedly searched for the target information at block 530 of
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Identifying the sensitive information may include excluding particular search results as specified by the subscriber and/or system administrator, and comparing the remaining results with the sensitive information from the database. For example, identifying the sensitive information may include initial processing of the search results, where imprecise matches may be allowed, and final processing to provide more exact matches.
The initial processing may be used to eliminate obvious inconsistencies and/or false hits. For example, returned data that is merely a part of a larger word or structure may be excluded as a false hit. Similarly, data used in a different context than the sensitive information may also be excluded. Also, the initial processing may be used to filter-out results based on specific exclusions, whether defined by the subscriber and/or by the system configuration. In addition, redundant search results may be filtered out. Wait loops may also be used to disguise any externally-visible artifacts produced by variations in the initial processing that may indicate (to an eavesdropper and/or other unauthorized party) that a received result may be pertinent to sensitive information about the subscriber. For example, a delay may be included between related search requests, and intermittent searching for obscuring information may be performed during the delay to disguise the relationship between the search requests.
The final processing of the search results may be used to compare the remaining search results with the sensitive information actually obtained from the subscriber. If sufficiently precise matches are not found, the remaining search results may be discarded. If the search results contain sufficiently precise matches, this identified sensitive information may be reported to the subscriber. For example, identified “hits” for each item and category of sensitive information may be displayed to the subscriber, as well as the source where each hit was found. The results may also be summarized, such as by total hits, hits in each category, hits for each source, etc. Also, the identified sensitive information found on the network may be displayed in a histogram, such as by item importance, percentage of hits per item, percentage of hits per source, etc.
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A search target generator 750 queries the subscriber information database 730 to obtain sensitive data about the subscriber 710, and queries the obscuring information database 740 to obtain the similarly-structured obscuring information. The search target generator 750 then expands the sensitive information from the subscriber 710 with the obscuring information to generate expanded subscriber information, also known as target information. The search target generator 750 may also generate expanded information for non-existent subscribers and/or utilize public information about non-subscribers.
The expanded subscriber information is stored in a search target database 760. A search engine 770 randomly selects items of expanded subscriber information from the search target database 760 and searches the network 715 for the selected items. The search engine 770 may be a publicly available search engine, or another search engine available via a partnership and/or other agreement. As the expanded subscriber information includes both the sensitive information and the obscuring information, the search engine 770 repeatedly searches the network for the sensitive information about a subscriber and intermittently searches the network for the obscuring information during the repeated searching, which may thereby disguise the sensitive information.
The search engine 770 of
Operations of a system for monitoring communications networks for private and/or sensitive information according to some embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by the following example. A subscriber, such as the subscriber 710 of
A target generator, such as the search target generator 750, uses the obscuring information from the database to expand, elaborate, modify, and/or randomize the sensitive information associated with the subscriber's identification to generate expanded subscriber information. In addition, the target generator may create non-existent, or “phantom”, customers with associated artificial information and identifications, and expand their information as well. The target generator continually populates a database, such as the search target database 760, with the expanded subscriber information.
A search engine, such as the search engine 770, accesses the expanded subscriber information in the database, and searches Internet web sites, public databases, partner databases, governmental databases, and/or other databases for the expanded subscriber information. Consequently, the search engine intermittently searches for both the sensitive information from the subscriber as well as the obscuring information, thereby disguising the true target of the search to potential unauthorized parties.
Results of the searches are initially processed by the search engine, which deletes any responses associated with the subscriber's identification that it identifies as false hits and/or repetitions. The remaining search results are then compared with the information entered by the subscriber to identify private and/or sensitive information among the results. The private and/or sensitive information identified from the search results is then reported to the subscriber in a variety of forms, dependent upon the subscriber's previously entered preferences. For example, the results may be reported via pager, e-mail, and/or voice-synthesized telephone message. In addition, the results may be illustrated in summaries, histograms, and/or weekly and/or monthly reports to the subscriber. This information may be made available to the subscriber via a password-protected web site. Searches may also be conducted for other subscribers, and the search engine may employ randomization and interleaving as described herein to further confuse any eavesdroppers and/or other third parties who may somehow learn of the search requests and/or responses.
Many variations and modifications can be made to the embodiments described herein without substantially departing from the principles of the present invention. All such variations and modifications are intended to be included herein within the scope of the present invention, as set forth in the following claims.
Claims
1-14. (canceled)
15. A servo write method for magnetic tape, the method comprising the steps of:
- passing the tape over a substantially planar head surface having a leading edge, the leading edge being disposed adjacent to the head surface such that the tape contacts the leading edge before passing over the head surface, the leading edge being rounded so as to form an air bearing between the head surface and the tape; and
- using the head to write servo position code onto the tape;
- wherein the head comprises:
- first and second ferrite structures;
- a non-magnetic material between the first and second ferrite structures to form a spacer, and thereby produce a ferrite-nonmagnetic-ferrite arrangement; and
- a layer of magnetic material having at least one magnetic gap supported over the non-magnetic material to form the magnetic pattern for writing a portion of a servo pattern to the tape.
16. The method as set forth in claim 15, wherein a radius of the leading edge spanning an angle having a magnitude of between 5-15 degrees.
17. The method as set forth in claim 15, comprising a step of passing the tape over a trailing edge, the trailing edge being disposed adjacent to the head surface such that the tape passes over the trailing edge after passing over the head surface, the trailing edge being rounded.
18. The method as set forth in claim 17, wherein a radius of the trailing edge spanning an angle having a magnitude of between 5-15 degrees.
19-28. (canceled)
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 21, 2004
Publication Date: May 11, 2006
Patent Grant number: 8862567
Inventor: Jeffrey Aaron (Atlanta, GA)
Application Number: 10/969,824
International Classification: G06F 17/30 (20060101);